Settling into country life

THe journey down was beautiful, tiring and wet but we learnt how to be together, especially when we were the only ones who could understand each other. We wild camped in a forest (never again, too scary), swam in very rough Bay of Biscay sea, met lovely Dutch and Brazillian people, learnt how to cook properly while camping (mini bbq for meat, bread, salad and wine), pack an entire contents a family of four should need for a year in a Honda crv and read all three Millenium book series. Lisbeth you rock.

The girls have taken to it like fish to water. We have had many new experiences with rather large insects, namely a scorpion in the bath on the first night, praying mantis', lizards, huge crickets and other biting crawlies. Maya has started year 3 (3 anos) and is doing really well, both girls get picked up by a school mini-bus at 8am from the top of the hill. Maya comes home at 6.30pm and either Jpn or I pick Vi up at 3.30pm. Jon and I have been making house a home and getting ready for winter, doing Lenha (firewood) as our house has stoves rather than central heating and apparently it gets extremely cold in the winter, it clocked in at -5 at night last winter a couple of times. So we have been dragging, chainsawing and collecting pine cones for the cold nights. Feels odd to be providing our own central heating.

Once the sun has come around to our part of the valley it gets hot and we change from jeans and jumpers to summer clothes. I am still coming back for the odd shoot but am finding everywhere I look needs to be photographed. Last weekend my brother Steve and his beautiful pregnant wife Sophie visited from London. Once they had made their sat nav detour (shortest route) to us we eventually tucked them up beneath their mosquito net and wished them good night. Next morning we woke early to do the Vindima (grape harvest) for our friend Larinda in the next village. Steve worked like crazy, whenever he visits he's sure to get a 5 litre garrafe for free I reckon!

I am not one for many words so after this I will give all the pics I have taken over the last month or so at once. They include what I have talked about and also include images of our gorgeous friends who first moved out here and got us into all this life changing business. (It probably would have happened anyway so don't feel responsible Andy and Von)! They have built a wonderful few houses and homes in this lust green Pine and Eucalyptus forest here in Central Portugal. Vonny is developing a series of terraces beneath their house of vegetables and flowers. Sometimes she can be seen at 5.30am tending her plot. (Not by me as I would rather sleep! Maybe I'll get up early to photograph her at work in the early morning autumn mist, we'll see).